Tag Archives: Sustainable seafood

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Weekend On The Wage

07/29/2014 Nativegrl77

Things Many Of Us Take For Granted Are Not Feasible For Those On A Minimum Wage Budget

For most of us, the weekend means taking some time to relax and do something fun after a full week of work. Maybe it’s going out to dinner, seeing a movie, watching a child’s soccer game, or traveling to visit friends or family. But for full-time minimum wage workers, there’s little if any room to afford such activities. After housing and tax expenses, full-time workers earning the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour have just $77 per week on average left for other expenses. Take a look at some of the graphics below to see how many of the things we take for granted are simply not feasible on that budget. And ask yourself, where would you cut?

Workers who make the minimum wage have little, if any, leeway in how they spend their money each week. $7.25 an hour is not enough to live on—much less enough to invest back into the community. In solidarity with these workers, leaders and activists around the country are taking the #LiveTheWage challenge, attempting to live on $77 for one week in an effort to highlight the critical need to raise the federal minimum wage. Check out Governor Ted Strickland talking and tweeting about his experience so far.

BOTTOM LINE: It’s been over five years since the last increase to the federal minimum wage. If we raise the wage to $10.10, it would lift 4.6 million Americans out of poverty and would raise the wages of 28 million Americans by a total of $35 billion dollars. That means more than just a long-awaited paycheck increase — it means more people able to go to the state fair, watch their kid’s soccer game, or see a movie every once in a while.

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Top 5 Reasons to Stand with Raul, Democratic Party

07/28/2014 Nativegrl77

Raul needs your help.

Raul is in the race of his life and he’s running against a true obstructionist.

You know, the kind that would rather shut down the government to score political points than help families in need.

We believe in Raul and in his vision for our community and nation but he needs your help today to win.

So we’ve put together our top five reasons why Raul deserves your support today.

5.) You know what you’re getting with Raul – a public servant who shares our values. He helps people and fixes problems – and as a doctor, he always has. No “put a Band-Aid on it” solutions from Raul – he promotes real answers to real issues. Click here to back Dr. Ruiz and show your support for a real problem solver.

4.) Raul is the type of leader we can be proud of. Raul fights for our values, not for big money special interests – that’s why they’re trying to defeat him. Even Ann Coulter is working to defeat Raul. Please donate $5 now to tell Dr. Ruiz you won’t let Ann Coulter seize his seat and stall our progress.

3.) Raul keeps his promises. In the summer of 1990, Raul walked from business to business in the Coachella Valley asking them to invest in their community by investing in his education at UCLA. He made a promise to come back home and serve his community as a physician. He kept his promise. Will you also invest in Raul?

2.) Raul mentors students who want to serve their communities as he has. His two requirements of his mentees: a) Show up and b) Serve the community. It’s this kind of simple, effective, and forward-looking public service that sets Raul apart. Show up for Raul.

1.) Dr. Ruiz needs your support to win this election. Raul’s opponent is another well-funded obstructionist that will hold the country hostage to push an extreme agenda. We need Raul’s voice in Washington more than ever. Click here to donate $5 or more to Dr. Ruiz’s campaign now – we need him standing for us in Congress.

Thank you,

Team Ruiz

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Demand Action … Clai Lasher-Sommers, Everytown for Gun Safety

07/28/2014 Nativegrl77

I was just 13 years old when my abusive stepfather shot me in the back. I may have survived, but there are too many women — young and old — who have died at the hands of a domestic abuser armed with a gun.

The presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation makes it five times more likely that the female victim will die. Five times!

We don’t have to accept this. I’m joining 20 other domestic violence advocates and survivors next week in Washington, D.C. to push our senators to support common-sense measures that would help keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and stalkers.

Are you with me? If so, click here to automatically sign the petition to your senators asking them to co-sponsor Senator Amy Klobuchar’s bill that would protect victims of abuse from gun violence.

No one should have to experience what I experienced. No domestic abuser or stalker should be able to get a gun. It’s that simple.

Sen. Klobuchar’s Protecting Domestic Violence and Stalking Victims Act would help fix that by prohibiting domestic abusers and stalkers from buying or having guns. Now is the time to push our senators to support the bill as our advocacy day on Capitol Hill approaches.

If you want to help save women’s lives and make our communities safer, I’m asking you to please stand with me. Automatically sign the petition now:

http://act.everytown.org/sign/klobuchar-bill

The more supporters who take action in the next few days, the more powerful our message will be on Capitol Hill next week.

Thanks for taking action,

Clai Lasher-Sommers
Keene, New Hampshire

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a message from Alonzo Mourning

06/27/2014 Nativegrl77

There’s nothing more fun in a basketball game than throwing down a dunk. But as much fun as I had on the offensive end of the court, I knew my teammates were counting on me to come up big when the other team was on the attack.

The same is true in politics (really!). It doesn’t matter how well you do tearing down your opponent if you don’t have a solid defense against their attacks. And my friend Debbie Wasserman Schultz depends on people like you to keep the special interests from scoring a victory.

Debbie’s working hard to help Democrats across the country, and she’s counting on us to have her back. Please, if you’re able, consider making a $5 contribution to her campaign. We need to keep my friend and my South Florida neighbor fighting for the middle class.

If you’ve saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:

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Reduce Jacob’s charges to misdemeanor possession instead of life

06/10/2014 Nativegrl77

Jana Duty: You promised to “restore integrity to the Williamson County District Attorney’s office” & use alternative sentencing. Reduce Jacob’s charges to misdemeanor possession.

By Robert Butler

Round Rock, Texas

Sign Robert’s Petition

Jacob Lavoro is a teenager facing life in prison for baking marijuana brownies in Round Rock, Texas. He’s a young man who has never been in trouble with the law before, and has always been a great kid who we love very much. I started the petition because I live in the same city as Jacob Lavoro and I felt a responsibility to help stand up for him. Our county has a history of excessively punishing minor crimes or even innocent people to “send a message” that has little do with justice or the best interests of the community.

In this case, the sentencing rules are being abused and stretched to increase a punishment that does not fit the allegations. The police apparently included the full weight of the brownies: flour, sugar, water, etc and the plastic containers that held them to determine the weight of the illegal hash oil used to bake the brownies.

If our petition can convince Jana Duty, the District Attorney in Williamson County, to follow through on her campaign promises to clean up Williamson County’s justice system and offer alternative sentencing options then we hope that there will be justice for Jacob Lavoro and that county residents can breathe easier under a less oppressive atmosphere.

If Jacob Lavoro receives a harsh sentence, it will destroy this young man’s life and leave a permanent mark of injustice in Williamson County, Texas. Please join us today to stand up against unfair sentencing and ruining a young man’s life. Sign and share the petition today!